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Mini profile - Honda MM50 & MB50
Raccoon strokers
by Guy 'Guido' Allen (June 2020)
Raccoons and racers - the weird & wonderful world of early 1980s Honda 50 strokers
At top is a Honda MM50 Raccoon. Never heard of it? Nor had we until a random sighting of a 1980-82-ish Honda brochure (above - thanks to Skung, on the UK VJMC Facebook page) led us down this weird rabbit hole of Honda 50cc two-strokes.
It was evidently a hot item in Honda's domestic market, though we never got to see them in Australia. Apparently the USA missed out on them, too.
The diminutive machine was intended as a city-hopper, boasting 4kW (5.4hp) at 7000rpm and 6.1Nm at 6500 from its air-cooled 49cc two-stroke single. It tipped the scales at a claimed 75kg dry.
And yes, the double-c in Raccoon is deliberate - it's emblazoned on the fuel tank.
The powerplant is borrowed from the racier-looking MB5 or MB50 (above and below), which scored a more high-strung 5kW (6.7hp) at 9000rpm and 5.5Nm at 8000rpm. It weighed around 78kg dry. That seems to be another one that escaped our market. What a shame!
And let's not leave out the third in the litter, the MT5 or MT50 scrambler below. This, like the MT50, had quite a following in the UK. It was tuned midway between the other two, claiming 5kW at 8000rpm and 5.7Nm at 7500. Weight was 79kg.
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